Building Traffic and Expanding Your Customer Base

2008-11-05T13:30:00.007-06:00

Whether or not you are new to Affiliate Marketing, the following post should assist you with your endeavors. I am going to provide you with some illustrative details associated with expedited methods to get free traffic and start generating affiliate revenue with minimal investments in your time.

Step 1 - Research Affiliate Programs utlizing the information made available on igob4u.com. There are several categories to select from, and you will be able to pin-point exactly the right type of Affiliate Marketing Program for your needs utilizing the Program Directory.

Step 2 - Determine which Niche Market best serves your needs. If you have a blog about Hosting Providers, it would make sense to find the right Affiliate Program for Niche Hosting Providers. Similarly, if you would like to have a site about Health Market products, do the necessary research to find the right niche market product to start advertising.

Step 3 - Create an Affiliate Website. The site you develop should enhance the Niche Market you have selected in the previous step and focus on that Niche Market ONLY. Do not start a site about Careers and start posting information about Hosting solutions. If you are in need a hosting provider, I am recommending the three following providers of hosting solutions:

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Step 4 - You will need to add a Blog to the site. A large number of hosting providers now provide a one-click install of a WP or Blogger. In order to create an RSS feed, you can visit http://www.feedburner.com/.

Step 5 - Sign up to receive Google Alerts.

Depending on your niche, you will need to enter a search term (or keyword you are targeting), type (news, blog, article, etc), and how frequently you would like to receive updates. Enter your e-mail and you are done.

Step 6 - Post comments on the blogs that were included in the alerts that you received from Google in Step 5. Where possible, include the URL of the domain you obtained in Step 2. This will create a back-link to your site, simply by leaving your post.

Step 7 - Use social bookmarking and tag the sites you visited while performing Step 6. You may have seen the following icon:

You can obtain your own version of this at http://www.addthis.com/. It is free, and you easily add the HTML to your blog or site, so that your readers can bookmark and share your information.

Step 8 - You need to consider writing about the alerts that you have read, to create a reciprocating effect related to traffic coming to your blog or site.

Eight Easy Steps, and you are well on your way! This is an easily reproducible Affiliate Marketing System. You will need to repeat steps 6-8 on a daily basis. The inbound loop created by leaving your URL will create a traffic flow coming from one Blog to another. Additionally, more traffic will be created as a result of the bookmarks you created through Social Bookmarking sites. This is a practice that is fast, fun and easy to perform, with little to no hard expenses incurred on your part. The best part, it hardly takes any time at all.

Please let me have your honest feedback. It is much appreciated!

jpmwhelan

2008-09-08T16:36:00.000-05:00

I AM NOT AN INTERNET MILLIONAIRE – YET!

Many options tested, but these are some of the most lucrative ways to make your first million on the internet.

Ever heard the phrases, "If I had a nickel for every time I..." or "Good things come to those who wait"? I have. Too many times to count, and I believe that Gordon Gecko (actor Michael Douglas - Wall Street) coined one of the best phrases of all:

“GREED IS GOOD”

Let's consider this for a moment. What if you had a dollar for every time you...or better yet $10? What if you were able to do something that could pay you repeatedly 100 times over? Would that solve a lot of your problems? While it may not solve all of them, it sure couldn't hurt. The way I see it I've been waiting (patiently, like a school boy, and for a very long time) and all of those good things keep passing me by and going to others while I sit here twiddling my thumbs. Good things come to those that seize the day, not those that are waiting, picking their nose while driving, or worse yet, scratching their arse in public. You have to ask yourself - what is it going to take for me to earn my first million?

If I have peaked your interests - GOOD. If I have not, Godspeed. Just remember that the door is always open, you just have turn the knob to find out what's inside.

For the record, I am not claiming to be a millionaire, simply because I am not - YET. You will not see my mug on a late night infomercial claiming that I've cracked the code and will tell you how for three low payments of $19.99. On the contrary, I'm just a squirrel, trying to get a nut. I hold down an 8 to 5, and I am making a good living. I have a wonderful house on the right side of town and have both a beautiful wife and child, a one of a kind Labrador, and turtle. I graduated from college and am still paying off the student loans. On paper, I seem like so many others in this world. So what makes me different? What makes me tick? Plain and simple - and possibly much like you - I want to be in control of my own destiny. I'm growing increasingly tired of slaving at an 8 to 5, and with the way the economy is going lately, you never know from one day to the next whether or not your job is secure.

That being said, about this time last year, I started to do research. A TON of research on methods for enhancing the size of my wallet. I learned a lot along the way.

Realize this - Time is Money and Time Wasted is Money Lost.

You have to ask yourself the following:

1. Can I read and write and do I have the ability to learn new things?
2. Do I have the desire for something more?
3. Can I give up the cost of a couple of cups of Joe this week to save up $10?

I'm guessing, by this point that you answered "Yes" to all of the above.

Remember this - I've learned more from my failures than I have from my successes. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!

WARNING: If you see this on someone's website, RUN!!!

This is called lure technique. 9.999999999999999999999999999 x out of 10, these ads are interested in one thing and one thing only - YOUR MONEY. Anyone that is willing to take the time to show you their profits did one of two things:

1. Made a template in Microsoft Excel and pre-populated "reasonable" numbers to make you believe that they are earning an incredible amount of money, or
2. Made a template in Microsoft Excel and pre-populated "reasonable" numbers to make you believe that they are earning an incredible amount of money

That's right; you did just read the same thing twice. Lure techniques are nothing but "Breezy Speculation" (the politically correct term for B.S.). RUN! And then RUN some more, far, far away!

I going to take some time to discuss some different methods that I currently utilize in order to build wealth.

Method 1: Your Very Own Online Store

Feel free to visit my very first online website http://www.besteworld.com/. I built this online, with no experience, through GoDaddy, and paid less than $10 to obtain the domain name (less than one week's worth of a cup of Joe). As I mentioned, I am not going to provide you with a copy of my balance sheet, but I will let your own math make a determination for yourself. I started this site in November 2007. Please note at the bottom of the homepage, there is a counter similar to what is seen below. This information was pulled from my site on September 14th, 2008, a mere 10 months (roughly).

Please note that the counter is registering 1,537,774 visitors. That, my friend, is called Web Traffic. People looking, people surfing, but not everyone is buying. Don't be fooled. I am not claiming that these are earnings, simply providing you with an illustration (crafted in Microsoft Excel - no doubt) to show you what is possible. People who surf the web, are typically looking for something. They have a mission, a purpose. So of the 1.5M people who have touched this site in a 10 month time-frame, what do you think is reasonable? 1% stayed and purchased something? 5%? Factor in an average spend of roughly $50, and an on average 7% Commission Rate, you'd be earning $3.50 per share. Check the Dollars Earned column to make a determination on what you could be making in 10 months, sitting at home in your PJ's, eating cold pizza in the morning because you CAN, not because you HAVE TO.

However you want to slice it, that's not a bad return on a less than $10 investment.

Don't be fooled though, you will need to do some things in order for these things to happen. You can't just open up a website, and hope that people find you. It's really not that simple. In Real Estate, they say "Location...Location...Location". In Web terms, "CONTENT...CONTENT...CONTENT".

Method 2: Drop Shipping and eBay

Drop shipping is a topic that one can spend months studying, so this course will only begin to scratch the surface of the drop shipping industry. However, it will help you get an understanding of how the process works and assess as to whether or not it is a business model that you'd like to pursue.

The truth is that many people use drop shipping to create significant income streams on the internet, and many eBay Powersellers achieve this status from drop shipping. Contrary to popular opinion, the big money on auctions sites like eBay is not always made by people who go to garage sales and put their findings online. Instead, drop shipping provides a way for people to sell physical products on the internet that they never have to see, store, package, ship, or even pay for.

On paper, it sounds way too good to be true, but once you understand that process that is behind it, it's a very simple concept. Drop shipping is simply selling other people's products at a premium, and keeping the difference as a profit. This practice is common not only on the internet, but in catalog businesses and even retail stores.

Drop shipping is not a new idea; it has been used by merchants and retailers for decades. However, the internet has opened the doors for the average work at homer like you to capitalize on this type of an opportunity. When sites like eBay became popular, it became easy to sell physical products online, so drop shippers used it as a way to sell additional units of the items that were already selling.

Today, drop shipping has become a very easy way for average people to make solid income streams from home, because it is easy to do, can be done in your spare time, does not require start up money, and is an understandable, realistic approach to make money from home.

While a little bit more expensive then its competitors, Worldwide Brands is among the most professional and complete drop ship and wholesale sources on the internet.

Worldwide Brands provides the best education, the biggest selection of drop shippers, the best support, and is certainly the easiest to use. An absolute novice can quickly become an expert with the resources at Worldwide Brands.

The Product Sourcing Experts at Worldwide Brands

An alternative, and consequently, the best solution
for those just getting started, is Salehoo.

This is an affordable solution for both beginning and experienced drop shippers, because Salehoo takes the time to compile a wide list of companies that offer wholesaling and drop shipping and have already been pre-certified. I recommend it for people who are just getting started in the drop ship business for these reasons:

- Salehoo has excellent customer support,
- A huge drop shipping forum, and
- A very low price. Should you decide that drop shipping is not for you, this is not a huge impact to your wallet.

Drop Shipping with Salehoo

Whichever method you choose, take the time to do your own research.

Method 3: Wealth Building Programs and Affiliate Marketing

“Do you wanna be this guy - DAILY?”

I have to admit, that I've been extremely disappointed in the enormous amount of money I've flushed down the toilet with purchasing various Wealth Building Programs; however, one day I stumbled upon information for SBI (Site Build It).

Trust me when I say that I have seen too many scams to count. However, when I started to do more extensive research on SBI, I was surprised to see that I couldn't find any information that would indicate that this was yet another get rich quick scheme. Quite the contrary, I found that it is the internet's best source of internet marketing education and it is better than other "make money" programs for two reasons:

1. It has fresh, regularly updated content. In addition, the forum has thousands of members, so help is always available when you need it.
2. Everything that you need to be a success is at your fingertips inside SBI. Unlike most programs that just give you a 50-page ebook, SBI has website creation tools and FREE hosting, keyword research tools, did I mention free web hosting, video training, FREE personal coaching, and one of the best forums the net provides.

Please check out the Site Build It Video Tour, to learn more about the program:

Site Build It is currently being taught to MBA students at 20 major universities. It unlocks an individuals potential to develop a site that will afford them the luxuries of being a stay at home mom or dad (or child for that matter). It is an all in one, one stop shop that includes:

- Built-in webpage templates for your site (included). So you can build a website, without knowing HTML and programming. All you have to do is to create content and Site Build It will work with you to make sure that you have the right keywords and content to ensure higher rankings in search engine results. Site Build It takes care of the programming part for you. Site Build It has built in graphics tools as well, so that you can modify it to make your site look customized. And when you change the graphics (on your master template) ALL the pages are changed. This is an enormous time-saver!

- Keyword Research Tool (included) - helps you the profitable keywords in your niche. This tool is very helpful, no matter you are a novice website designer or experienced webmaster. You can do the keyword research manually, but it usually will take days (or weeks) worth of work. Using Site Build It, better results can be achieved within minutes.

- Website Hosting (included) - unlimited bandwith.

- Electronic Newsletter Publishing (included) - your visitors can join your mailing list. You can e-mail your visitors/clients regularly and stay in touch.

- Traffic Statistics and Analysis (included) - find out where your traffic is coming from and what they are doing while on your site.

- Automatic submission to Major Search Engines (included) - saves you time and money from manually submitting your sites to Search Engines and Directories alike.

- SEO - Search Engine Optimization (included) - Site Build It will analyze your webpage and tell you how to improve it. Using the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) feature offered by Site Build It, an almost computer illiterate individual can achieve #1 rankings in Google.

Believe it or not, that's not all! Site Build It comes with over 70 modules to learn from. Trust me when I say, take the time to do your own research. You won't be disappointed.

A final note, Site Build It comes with a 30-day money back guarantee. After the 30-day money back period, they will refund on a pro-rated basis.

Do you still have questions about SBI?

In my opinion, SBI is the best wealth building programs on the internet. Take it for what it's worth, but I believe you will be impressed with the knowledge that you will gain.

Order SBI Today

I'm guessing that you ended up here, much like I did a year ago. I hope to see you all on the other side of the Millionaire Club's door. I wish you the best in your endeavors and hope that the information that I have provided to you has been useful. I'll leave you with one thing to ponder, and I wish you the best in your search.

Think for yourself, and question authority

Before you go...Here is an interesting read and it is a FREE E-book. A wealth of information at your fingertips. Hope you enjoy, and that you found this information to be useful.

Please let me have your honest feedback. It is much appreciated!

jpmwhelan

Check out more of jpmwhelan's lenses at Squidoo

I am not an Internet Millionaire - Yet!

Building Traffic and Expanding Your Customer Base